Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Review: Foster Boys Pizza, Downingtown PA

A while back, a colleague brought me two leftover slices of a plain pie from Foster Boys, so that I could try this much acclaimed pizza. I gave it a proper re-heat, and found it to be pretty bland and generic. It had a generous amount of cheese, but what stood out was the crust - it had less flavor than Wonder Bread. I hesitated to post a review based on this small reheated sample, so I waited.

Foster Boys slice on the left; some better pie on the right

Now, however, our intrepid correspondent has supplied his review, and he got to eat it fresh out of the oven. He says:

"Several months ago a Philadelphia magazine wrote an article about pizza shops. Checking out the article, I noted that Foster Boys was one the spots to visit for good pizza. Previously, I had eaten very tasty hoagies and sandwiches at Foster Boys, a former WAWA grocery store location in Downingtown. But, I never tried the pizza. Foster Boys definitely is a family establishment with Mom hanging around the kitchen and Pop just hanging out. Interestingly, on one occasion while eating a hoagie, I saw Pop hit the change in tip jar next to the register to buy a newspaper. So recalling that hometown setting and my wife was out of town, I decided to give Foster boys pizza a try.

Foster Boys crust looked better than it tasted

"It was a Saturday night, the place was not too busy, but I waited patiently for four college-age customers who could not decide what to order. Finally it was my turn; I had taken home a menu from a previous visit, but I knew I wanted pizza. The young lady greeted me with the customary smile and requested my order. I was prepared to order a plain pizza for take-out, but asked about the House Style pizza for the heck of it. That’s the pizza with cheese on the bottom and sauce on top. I decided to go with my first inclination, a plain pizza."(There is only pizza that I don’t like. That pizza is from a bakery in my home town 100 miles away. It is undercooked and they apply the cheese AFTER the sheet comes out of the oven. Anyway, back to Foster Boys.)

The Foster Boys plain pie

"A bite or two into the pizza and I realized that the cheese overwhelmed the sauce. There was too much of it. I could not see the sauce. I really couldn’t taste it so I can’t say much about the sauce. Maybe the House Style pizza is offered to customers who would like to see the sauce. The crust on the pizza was crisp and the edges bubbled up to a paper thin consistency. Those bubbles and maybe even a hole in the crust are needed to give the pizza some artistic appeal. The pizza crackled when I bit into the crust, a piece of crust fell into my plate, but there was very little taste. The beautiful looking crust had no distinctive taste. It lacked character. "The menu at Foster Boys says, 'Great Pizza and Awesome Sandwiches.' I have no arguments with the evaluation of their sandwiches. They are terrific eats, but I would characterize the pizza as good not great. I would stop for a slice of pizza if I was in Downingtown. And, I would drive from my home in West Chester for one of their sandwiches. But for the pizza, I think it would be only drive to give the House Style a try."

The big picture? Foster Boys is challenging West Chester's New Haven Pizza and Berwyn's Phil's Pizza as the worst I've had in the region. It earns a 2.5. Better than going hungry, but not better than Freschetta. Or even Domino's.